This course introduces the types of cost estimation from the conceptual design phase through the more detailed design phase of a construction project. In addition, the course highlights the importance of controlling costs and how to monitor project cash flow. Students will work on a break-even analysis of construction tasks in a project.

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Ibrahim Odeh, Ph.D., MBA

Instructor, Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University

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So we've learned a little bit about the background of the systems themselves. The items and parts and services that make up the software that allows us to estimate in 5D. We learned a little bit about the workflows. How we can go from either a PDF underlay or a revit model directly into the software, and then output. Making sense as individuals within a workplace. Collaborating with others to come up with a whole and complete estimate for the work. What I'd like to talk a little bit now is about workflows, the implications. Now, that this data is tied operationally to the things we do in construction to deliver an overall project. That we have real-time costs associated with material and labor perspective. It affords us opportunities to look at things in unique and different ways. To think about how we work as an overall organizational, or as organizations together, and enable some workflows to occur. From a value stream management perspective, a typical design flow through estimating, planning, fabrication, field installation, and maintenance, would, in general, be a silo-based system. Whether it was within your own organization, or between organization. Meaning that the effort made during the design phase was made my designers. They may be modeling. They may be handing off that model. They may not be handing off that model. They may just be creating P2, flat 2D drawings to then essentially throw over the wall for the next phase. Whether it's within your house, your estimating department takes a look at the job and then turns it over to project management and/or fabrication. In each of those instances, individuals are doing work associated with their specific processes and then taking the output and throwing it over the wall. When you implement a 5D model-based estimating solution that it then ties cost and labor to everything you do, overall, as an organization or project enterprise. It provides an opportunity to really lower the walls and think about the way that value is handed off downstream between the players. We can look at specific handoffs and flow through the overall design, through fabrication and installation. And create micro-efficiencies between the conversations that do occur and the handoffs that do occur. We can model directly in the overall design phase with items and components that will have the intelligence of the cost associated with installing them. Add the additional intelligence that we saw before of what's not included in the estimate. Evaluate different options. And/or, just quite simply, handoff that model to the next player down the line. So in the case from estimating to planning, not recreating the model in its specific detail all over again. So we can help eliminate waste, overall. When it comes to more specific integrated options for delivery, having the model-based estimating software really helps to facilitate that conversation between the trade installing trade, the designer, the owner, the CM and GC to really effectively evaluate different options. In integrated project delivery, where we're all contracted via an integrated form of agreement. It creates flows and efficiencies between organizations that might not otherwise be seen. In the case of IPD projects, we might be utilizing processes such as target value design and set face design to really look at multiple different designs concurrently. To work with the user groups, work the owners to determine ultimately what is the best path. You'll see on the right hand-side of the screen an example of evaluating that design from an A3 reporting perspective. And using the model-based estimate to evaluate several different scenarios, place that plainly in front of the group of individuals making decisions and saying, here's good, better, best for the overall decision for the project. Here are the implications, and evaluate in the real-time. A traditional design that build construction would really resolve on that one design. Then turn it over to the market to price and estimate. And then go through a cycle should the cost come in higher than expected of, perhaps, value engineering, or recycling. And going back through to find out where costs can be cut, or a different approaches can be taken. And going through the cycle of the process again, thereby wasting time. In this case of target value design, with the set base designs, we can concurrently follow those through, utilize 5D estimating software and evaluate those options concurrently. It's not just about the software itself though. A lot of words on this slide, we don't have to go through all of them. But I want to point out though is, it creates the opportunity for you to look at the overall flow of the work you do as a firm. And look for the opportunities to connect data points. Whether it's early in the design phase. I went through the examples before. Can we use Revit to do design? Should we be pulling in PDFs and estimating straight off of that? Getting into the estimating and turning over to project management to really consider the site logistics overall, use the model for that. A plan for unit labor control, which we'll take a look at in a second. The productivity for the overall project. And then moving to fabrication, whether or not it's for ourselves, fabricating sheet metal or other fabrication trades. Taking that same model and making it work for you in the shop. In terms of CNC controlled machines. Or simply just planning out the work from a spooling and pre-fabrication standpoint. And then ultimately installing them in the field. Across the overall flow of that work, there are opportunities based on having the data in the first place to connect it to what you do from a process standpoint. And we'll look at a couple of examples of that. This was our effort of looking at the overall flow of the work we do. The different pieces of software we use along the way. And where are the potentials for connections, be they automatic or somewhat manual, but nevertheless help to create the overall flow and value of the work? When considering overall workflows and opportunities within the operations of your overall business, by implementing 5D estimating software, new value-creating connections can be put in place. And in this case, the ability to connect the estimate, what you are estimating the overall cost and labor to be can be connected with real-time experience in the field, and fed back into the overall estimating system. In this case, you’ll just see the utilization of the 5D estimating software to set up for labored unit control. Really taking a system and setting it up for analysis and overall tracking throughout the course of a project. You can utilize the software, isolate individual floors, individual parts of the building. Maybe a run of work that's going to take place over a period of time. Tag those items that are associated with that area of the building visually. Really change the status, as you saw here. Whether or not they're installed, designed, fabricated, etc. And use the model as the basis for information flow between the model, estimating, and your field crews. So in this case, you see that this is the same spreadsheet we were looking at before. And really, it's just taking the installation status of items, refreshing for what is in the model currently. And seeing the resulting change in the overall percentage complete for that piece of work. Marry that with some actual hours and you have some real true earned value analysis. If the hours are going to take less, we're obviously doing well compared to the estimate. If they take more actually, then we know we have a bust. We have area of opportunity to look for increased efficiency from a production and productivity perspective. This data can be connected with your scheduling system, your CPM scheduling system, for overall work breakdown, resource loading of schedules. And then as you see here, connected from a real-time, actual installation productivity tracking perspective. Again, it's a connection. You're looking at an Excel workbook that is connected directly to the model and providing that real-time feedback. All the while, actually using the model as a visual representation for what's going on in the field. Somebody might be walking with a tablet, windowing out an area and just changing out overall installed status. That way we get real-time feedback. You can feed that back into the estimating system. And have a full and complete loop between what it takes to install a construction project in a field, make it's way in real-time back to the department estimating new projects. So, a true value added connection. The conversation can also occur between smart pieces of technology. In this case, it's an example of a hospital renovation project. Where the design was done, the team had moved to planning and fabrication for field installation. Demolition was done on the existing floors and a condition was discovered. The structural member cross-spacing on multiple different floors throughout the building, that simply hadn't been picked up in the design phase because they were hidden from overall view. Once exposed, our individuals in the field were able to use a Trimble robot to really trace out along the lines of the overall obstruction and bring that back into the model. And then coordinate around it. That's important from an overall cross-control and estimating perspective. Because, typically in construction, these components would have already been fabricated. And most of the time, you'll find that error while you're getting ready to install it in the field. Having technology that talks back and forth, something like Trimble robot, to really communicate about conditions in the field back into the model itself, affords us the opportunity to see these issues. And make changes before there's actual cost incurred to tear apart previously done fabrication that was wrong. In the case of the Trimble, it's just a quick point layout. But today, there's even smarter technology that can do a overall 3D scan of the space that we're looking to work in. In this case, a FAROX330 scanner is taken out to the field and utilized to really evaluate the space. In this case, there's some work being done on a rooftop. Some overall mechanical equipment replacement. And the need to hit specific openings in the existing roof where there might be exhaust fans or hoods that come up through the roof. And needing to hit those exact points with supply and return or other utilities that come up and feed the new equipment on the roof. Using a scanner, we can get the real, true 3D information about the space process. That through a couple different pieces of software. Behind the hardware of the scanner itself. And it makes sense of what's physically in the field in order to both estimate and plan the work. Couple of other different examples of just simple systems. Replacement and mechanical equipment rooms, allowing the team to see the specific routing. Where hangers might be located, etc. Instead of pulling tape measures in the field, and another example of reconnecting a new piece of equipment overall. So it's really the blending of the interface with the real world into the model itself, in order to take some of the labor waste and overall effort out of pulling tape, getting incomplete measurements. Estimating on the basis of incomplete information, getting more detail when we go to plan the work. Now we're able to short cycle that overall effort and really scan and view the spaces and work with them in the model. Being able to have the actual objects we're going to use with reliable geographic information joined with true and accurate cost, material cost and labor estimating information provides us the opportunity to look at the way we build as well. And create opportunities to use offsite manufacturing where we're going to manufacture parts of the building. In a controlled environment, in a warehouse, where it is safer. An individual can work within their ergonomic strike zone. From a quality control perspective, you can see 360 degrees around what's being installed. It can be tested and specifically fit in the manufacturing environment. And then brought out to the construction site to be installed. Not only does that create efficiencies from an overall work execution perspective, there's no longer the same number of individuals clamoring on top of one another in the field. You can do this work simultaneously with the structure. And bring down the overall schedule duration. And create efficiencies that way. The examples you see here are just taking that model-based estimating software. And taking the routing of the mechanical systems throughout a hospital space, and breaking that down into manufacturable horizontal distribution racks. That can be then broken up, spooled, and made ready. Specific work designs using the software itself, breaking out the individual models. And then taking the work environment into a factory type situation where the distribution systems can be set up like an assembly line. And manufactured all of the systems on the rack itself. Tested right there in the factory. Delivered to the site. Hoisted up into the building. And then just rolled out onto the floor to the where the location they're going. Jacked up into place. And just connecting the whole rack. And then making the interact connections. Creates tremendous efficiency, again, in the overall schedule. It makes for a safer, cleaner construction environment. It's possible without the 5D estimating software. But the reliability in the overall geometric properties of the items that we're using today, and the cost estimating capabilities, provide us the opportunities to look at taking more of the building offsite. And creating a manufacturing-type scenario that creates even greater efficiencies. And it's not just sub-components of the building. We can take entire plants, entire buildings themselves, model them out. In this case, it's a boiler plant over approximately 15 feet in height, 84,000 pounds, 50 feet long, manufactured in two pieces. Two essential pieces within a shop. Break it apart, once everything's connected in the shop, ship it to the field and have them installed on site. Two independent pieces and connect it back together. So it curates the opportunity for modular buildings. Many of which we're seeing throughout the US today. But the reliability of that information creates new and obvious opportunities for us as a construction industry.